If you’re looking for advice on growing and marketing your veterinary practice, you know that creating social media accounts/pages are a common suggestion.

Why?

Social Media platforms have some of the most extensive audiences online. Nearly 70% of the entire United States population has a Facebook account and 76% check in daily.

That’s an incredible amount of people you can potentially reach online! That’s why it’s good advice to set up and leverage social media for your veterinary practice.

Great! You created all of your accounts. Now what?

#1 - Ensure your practice information is always correct.

Make sure there’s no confusion for potential or returning clients. There’s nothing more frustrating than struggling to figure out what number to call or hours your practice is open.

Make it easy for pet owners. Keep your “about” section updated at all times. Here’s a quick checklist of the information you should keep updated on your social media profiles:

• Practice Address

• Phone Number

• Email Address

• Website

• Office Hours

And do your best to be concise. Some social platforms don’t give you a lot of room to convey all that information.

#2 - Make posts that pet owners will actually engage with and find valuable.

Too often, veterinary practices’ engagement suffers because their posts aren’t resonating with pet owners. Figure out what demographic you want to target, and post things that will interest and engage them!

Depending on your audience, You can 

• Ask questions 

• Post memes

• Share links to genuinely interesting articles

• Post discounted offers every so often

Dress-up day in the office? Share a photo! 

Which brings us to the next point...

#3 - Real photos? YES.

You don’t need to buy a thousand-dollar camera - you just need to be authentic. Stock photos aren’t going to cut it forever. Plus most current smartphone cameras take professional-level quality photos. 

At a minimum, take and post some pictures of the inside and outside of your office space, and make sure there’s at least one of you, the veterinarian!

It’s okay to move beyond the stiff professionalism - this is social media! Pet owners want to know that their veterinary practice is made up of friendly people.

If you want to think outside the box, you can take some photos of your staff members at their station (front office staff behind the counter or vet techs in the middle of an appointment), or a staff photo on a fun theme or dress-up day. If you want to post pictures of happy clients and cute pets, awesome! 

#4 - Cost-effective advertising.

If you’re looking to get new clients, social media ads can be a cost-effective method of doing so. Once your page is developed and you’ve got some content, create some targeted ads for people in your area!

Facebook and other social platforms have made it pretty simple for local businesses to reach their community, so take advantage! You can make your ads even more effective in bringing you new clients by allowing them to schedule directly from your Facebook page.

#5 - Make good use of your practice’s free Wi-Fi.

To increase your practice’s visibility on social media, encourage your clients who are physically present in your office to check in on Facebook or Instagram. It works like this: the more people share your practice page through checking in, the more other people will see it. Simple, right?

To make it easy for your office and your clients, you can implement Facebook or Instagram Wi-Fi at your practice. To use your free wifi, clients don’t have to have a password; they just have to check in on Facebook or Instagram. It’s a win-win scenario all around.

#6 - Reviews

There’s three places most people are looking for reviews: Google, Yelp and Facebook. Consumers are choosing where to go based on these reviews, so if you’re truly looking to grow your practice, you need to start soliciting client reviews on these platforms, including Facebook.

Still hesitant? Consider this:

• Star rating is the #1 factor used by consumers to judge a business (BrightLocal)

• 92% of consumers read reviews (BrightLocal)

• 80% of consumers trust reviews more than personal recommendations (BrightLocal)

• Having 50 or more reviews can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rate (Econsultancy)

Do you really want to miss out on the impact of this social proof?

#7 - Be open 24/7 with real-time online scheduling.

If you are putting time and money into funneling potential clients to your veterinary practice’s social media profiles, you want to get as much return on investment as possible, right? 

That’s where Chckup’s real-time online scheduling comes in.

Pet owners can schedule an appointment with your vet practice directly from your social media profile (as well as your Google Business Profile listing).

Consider this:

• 81% of pet owners would prefer to schedule their appointments online (Decipher Research / Intuit Health)

• 77% of pet owners search online before booking an appointment (Pew Research)

• 38% of all appointments are scheduled after hours or on weekends (Accenture 2013 Consumer Survey)

Closing the loop on social media and all of your other marketing channels can increase your ROI and ensure that you’re open for business whenever a new client finds you, 24/7. Interested in learning more? Schedule your free demo today.

And there you have it.

Now you know why everyone recommends social media when you’re looking to grow your veterinary practice.

Which of these seven tips are YOU going to try? Let us know online!